Method and apparatus for creating and using quantum resistant keys

ABSTRACT

A system is disclosed for securely communicating between a user device and a target device, which includes a user input receiving user inputs and a user device memory for storing at least one fixed dataset having a plurality of data bits and an inherent entropy. At least one predetermined harvest process is stored in ser device memory, which is operable within a main harvest process to distill the dataset to a predetermined bit length to define a private key of the user at a predetermined key length. A processor operates to execute the main harvest process to receive a unique user Personal Information Number (PIN) acquired by the user and having a plurality of digits associated therewith, and wherein the at least one predetermined harvest process is dependent on the user PIN and the value of at least one of the digits therein, such that the at least one predetermined harvest process is parameterized by the value of the at least one of the digits and operates differently for each value of the at least one of the digits. The processor applies the at least one predetermined harvest process to the dataset to distill the dataset down to the predetermined key length to define the private key, and then stores the private key to the user device. A target device memory and an encryption engine on the target device interface with a proximity-based link. The private key is transferred to the target device via the proximity-based link and an interface on the target device stores the transmitted private key in the target device memory.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/038,234, filed Sep. 30, 2020, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FORCREATING AND USING QUANTUM RESISTANT KEYS (Atty. Dkt. No. AMRT60-35019),issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 11,308,183 on Apr. 19, 2022, which is aContinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/888,815, filed onMay 31, 2020, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CREATING AND USINGQUANTUM RESISTANT KEYS (Atty. Dkt. No. AMRT60-34906), issued as U.S.Pat. No. 10,817,590 on Oct. 27, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/981,996, filed on Feb. 26, 2020, entitledTECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING QUANTUM RESISTANT KEYS (Atty. Dkt. No.AMRT60-34905), the specifications of which are incorporated by referencein their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of cryptography. In particular,this disclosure relates to techniques for providing end-to-endcryptographic security including key generation, sharing, and use.

BACKGROUND

It has long been desirable to secure confidential communications so asto prevent unintended interception of information contained in thosecommunications. One method of providing such confidentiality is the useof end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption can be achieved usingciphers, or keys. Ciphers are generally categorized as symmetric orasymmetric. Symmetric ciphers use a single key possessed by both partiesto a communication. The same key is used both to encrypt and decrypt thecommunication. In order to ensure confidentiality, the parties must usea secure channel to share the key, as anyone who has access to the keyis able to freely decrypt or encrypt communications using that key.Asymmetric ciphers use a pair of related keys. Each party to a securecommunication possesses one of the pair of keys. One party uses theirkey, known as a private key, to generate a second key, known as a publickey. This party provides their public key to the second party to thecommunication. The second party is able to encrypt data with the publickey, and, ideally, only the owner of the private key is able to decryptthose communications. Accordingly, the owner of the private key does notneed to be concerned about who has access to the public key, and it canbe provided to the second party “in the clear,” that is, over publicchannels where it may be overheard or intercepted.

Asymmetric cipher encryption and decryption is computationally morecomplex than symmetric cipher encryption and decryption. This is atradeoff for the ability to easily and conveniently set up aconfidential communication channel using an asymmetric cipher withoutneeding to worry about unintended third parties ever obtaining theprivate key, and without needing an initial secure channel tocommunicate the key to intended second parties. This computationaloverhead makes asymmetric ciphers undesirable for communication of largeamounts of data. Furthermore, a major concern with any given cipher isits robustness against attack, and in particular against brute forceattacks. Some current asymmetric ciphers, such as Rivest-Shamir-Adleman(RSA) or Diffie-Hellman (DH) ciphers, are potentially unsafe in apost-quantum computing world.

SUMMARY

The present invention disclosed and claimed herein, in one aspectthereof, comprises a system for securely communicating between a userdevice and a target device. The system includes a user input receivinginputs from a user of the user device and a user device memory forstoring on the user device at least one known, fixed and unchangingdataset having a plurality of data bits and an inherent entropy, thedataset selectable by the user through the user input. At least onepredetermined harvest process is stored in the user device memory, whichis operable within a main harvest process to distill the dataset to apredetermined bit length to define a private key of the user at apredetermined key length that is a subset of the dataset. A processoroperates to execute the main harvest process to receive a unique userPersonal Information Number (PIN) acquired by the user and having aplurality of digits associated therewith, and wherein the at least onepredetermined harvest process is dependent on the user PIN and the valueof at least one of the digits therein, such that the at least one of thepredetermined harvest process is parameterized by the value of the atleast one of the digits and operates differently for each value of theat least one of the digits. The processor applies the at least onepredetermined harvest process parameterized by the at least one of thedigits of the user PIN to the dataset to distill the dataset down to thepredetermined key length to define the private key, wherein the privatekey can only be recreated with knowledge of the dataset, the user PINand the predetermined harvesting process, and then stores the privatekey to the user device. A target device memory and an encryption engineare provided on the target device with a proximity-based communicationlink disposed between the user device and the target device. The privatekey from the user device is transferred to the target device via theproximity-based communication link and an interface on the target devicestores the transmitted private key in the target device memory. Theencryption engine is operable to encrypt communications from the targetdevice with the stored private key and decrypt received communicationswith the stored private key.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding, reference is now made to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for generating a private key and storing onan Internet of Things (IoT) device;

FIG. 2A illustrates a flowchart for a method of distilling entropy froma photograph and generating a private key;

FIG. 2B illustrates a flowchart for processing of the harvestingoperation;

FIG. 2C illustrates a diagram of a pixel access plan;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart for the harvesting operation;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for the selection of a harvest process;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart for generating host factors for multiplemembers of a common group;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart for generating multiple host factors fora single user such that a user can distill multiple keys from a singlephotograph or image; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a sequence diagram for communication between the userdevice, an IoT device and a host.

FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C illustrate a sequence diagram for a userregistration sequence;

FIG. 9 illustrates a sequence diagram for a group creation sequence;

FIG. 10 illustrates a sequence diagram for an invite group memberssequence;

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic view for the operations of FIGS. 8A,B and C-10;

FIG. 12 illustrates a sequence diagram for the device bonding;

FIG. 13 illustrates a diagrammatic view for the operation of FIG. 12;

FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrate a sequence diagram for managing userentitlements on a device;

FIG. 15 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the operation of FIGS. 14A-B;

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate a sequence diagram for authenticating auser on a device;

FIG. 17 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the operation of FIGS. 16A-B;

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a sequence diagram for authenticating auser via direct access the device the:

FIG. 19 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the operation of FIGS. 18A-B;

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of the user device and of the IoT;and

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate a block diagram of encryption engine chip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers are usedherein to designate like elements throughout, the various views andembodiments of techniques for generating quantum resistant keys areillustrated and described, and other possible embodiments are described.The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instancesthe drawings have been exaggerated and/or simplified in places forillustrative purposes only. One of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate the many possible applications and variations based on thefollowing examples of possible embodiments.

Embodiments of the present disclosure contemplate that both parties to aconfidential communication using symmetric ciphers must possess the samecryptographic quality key, while preventing any third parties fromobtaining that key. For “offline” threats, such as securing data at restor recorded traffic (i.e., securing information that is static ratherthan real time, which allows a malicious third party as much time asthey need to decrypt the cipher), use of a true random number generator(TRNG) for key generation is the most secure option. With a truly randomkey, a human or algorithm can gain no significant advantage over bruteforce guessing of the key, as there are no discernable patterns that canbe exploited to gain such an advantage.

A TRNG leverages physical events such as atmospheric noise, atomicdecay, or shot noise to seed the random number generator (RNG). Somecomputing devices that are unable to leverage physical events insteadleverage operating system entropy from interrupts, mouse movements, orthe like to seed the RNG. Although this approach is weaker than oneusing physical events, in some cases it can be strong enough to providean acceptable quality cryptographic key. However, smaller computingdevices such as IoT devices do not have enough operating system entropyto make even this approach viable. Accordingly, the present disclosurecontemplates the generation of cryptographic quality keys forcommunications with IoT devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure further contemplate the need forsecurely and confidentially distributing a symmetric cipher key betweenparties. One secure method is quasi-physical distribution. A moreflexible method is use of an asymmetric cipher to encrypt a symmetriccipher key for transmission to a second party. Many asymmetric ciphers,however, are not quantum safe (i.e., safe from brute force attacks by aquantum computer). Moreover, the use of an asymmetric cipher toestablish a secure channel is predicated on the ability of both partiesto produce a high quality asymmetric cipher key. As discussed above,some devices, such as IoT devices, lack access to enough entropy togenerate a high quality key for use with an initial asymmetric cipherexchange. Accordingly, there is a need for a system for secure keyexchange with an IoT device. Existing practice for an IoT device is toembed a cryptographic key, which is provisioned during manufacture toboth a chip and a server. By definition, such keys are known by themanufacturer and are not private to the using parties.

Embodiments of the present disclosure additionally contemplate that IoTdevices are often placed in an environment where they are not physicallysecure. As a result, it should be assumed that malicious actors will beable to gain physical access to the devices, and will be able to obtaincopies of any static data storage, desolder and probe chips, and conductvarious other attacks on the devices. Furthermore, user devices oftencommunicate with the IoT devices through a cloud host (or cloud server),and device vendors or the cloud host may be able to access data storedon the cloud host. Accordingly, there is a need for “zero knowledge”encryption of stored data on the device (i.e., encryption that does notallow service providers or others with physical access to the device toaccess data).

To meet the above needs, embodiments of the present disclosure includeharvesting high quality entropy data from, in a disclosed embodiment, animage using a user chosen numerical sequence (e.g., a personalidentification number (PIN)) and an external factor to parameterize theharvesting of the entropy. It should be understood that the disclosedembodiment utilizing an “image” refers to a photograph that is digitizedto provide a dataset that can be considered “ordered” by the fact thatit is not completely random as it has a bias that is imparted thereto bythe external environment from which the image or photograph was derived.For example, if the image was created with purely random pixels withrandom RGB values, it would not be considered ordered. Typicalphotographs, on the other hand, will have certain portions that areassociated with a sky, for example, and have relatively similar pixelvalues adjacent to each other in that particular area of the image.Thus, they have a certain level of order inherent in the associatedpixel dataset.

It should also be understood that this “dataset” can be represented byany fixed dataset that can be stored and retrieved at a later time.Thus, the dataset is not limited to an image and it can be any “fixed”dataset. Fixed datasets can be such datasets that are used, for example,in machine learning. There are various datasets that are implemented forsuch. For example, image data in the form of facial recognition, actionrecognition, object detection and recognition, handwriting and characterrecognition, and aerial images could be utilized. Text data in the formof reviews, news articles, messages, Twitter and tweets, dialogue andother text can be utilized as a database. Sound data in the form ofspeech, music, etc. can also be used. Signal data in the form ofelectrical signals, motion-tracking signals, etc. can be used. Datasetscan be extracted from physical data such as, high energy physics,various physical systems, astronomy, or sciences and other physicalenvironments. Biological data could be utilized to create datasets, suchas datasets relating to humans, animals, plants, microbes and drugdiscovery. Additionally, multivariate data forms of financial data,weather data, census data, transit data, Internet data and games couldbe used to create datasets. These various datasets are stored and madeavailable to various companies for machine learning. All of thesedatasets have entropy associated there with and any of these datasetswhen used in conjunction with the user PIN can yield a resulting entropythat can be harvested as harvested entropy, i.e., a subset of theresulting user PIN/dataset entropy.

Embodiments associated with the disclosed embodiment also includeimprinting the harvested entropy into IoT devices as keys for use as along-term secret. Embodiments additionally include leveraging theimprinted keys as a shared secret for end-to-end encryption with zeroknowledge at the host for both commands and data. Embodiments furtherinclude creation of keys at a host for use as a shared secret forcommunications between the host, applications, and devices.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system 100 according toembodiments of the present disclosure. The system 100 includes a userdevice 102, which can be any suitable device, such as a mobile phone, alaptop computer, a tablet, a wearable device, or the like. The systemfurther includes an IoT device 104, which can be any suitable device,such as a smart surveillance camera, a smart speaker, a doorbell camera,a smart door lock, a smart thermostat, or the like. In some embodiments,the user device 102 and the IoT device 104 are capable of connecting toeach other using a proximity based protocol such as near-fieldcommunication (NFC), BLUETOOTH® Low Energy (BLE), or the like. Thesystem additionally includes a cloud host server 106, which connects tothe user device 102 and the IoT device 104 through a network 108, suchas the Internet. In some embodiments, the cloud host server 106 connectsto the user device 102 and the IoT device 104 using a protocol such asHTTPS. It is understood that the system 100 can include any number ofeach of the user device 102, the IoT device 104 and the cloud hostserver 106.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, there is illustrated a method 200 forgenerating keys based on entropy according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, which entropy is derived from a photograph, as will bedescribed hereinbelow. In some embodiments, the method 200 is performedby a user device 102. For example, the method 200 could be performed bya mobile phone that is connected to a cloud host server 106 via a mobiledata connection using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)protocol and having a resident application for such operation. Themobile phone can be able to connect to an IoT device 104 using NFC whenthe mobile phone is within close enough proximity to the IoT device 104for NFC to function. In some embodiments, the method 200 is implementedas an application that runs on a processor of the user device 102—adevice resident application. This application could be downloaded ontothe user device 102, for example from the cloud host 106. Although themethod 200 is described with respect to a mobile phone as the userdevice 102, it is understood that any suitable device could perform themethod 200.

In this method, as will be described more fully hereinbelow, thedisclosed embodiment harvests a random key from user PIN/pictureentropy. This is compared to two scenarios where the random key isharvested from a local TRNG or it is a service provider key which isused. The scenarios are as follows:

-   -   Scenario 1: As an individual user, in accordance with a        disclosed embodiment, the individual user is able to harvest a        random key from PIN/picture entropy.        -   Can it be cryptographical high quality? Yes        -   Is the individual user's data secret from vendors? Yes        -   Is individual user's data secret from attackers? Yes        -   Does the individual user have a way to remember it? Yes,            picture and user PIN is not hard to remember        -   Can the individual user recreate it? Yes        -   Does the individual user have a secure way to distribute it            to others, besides physical? Yes. Sharing pictures does not            reveal the key. The user PIN can be arbitrarily long            distributed through voice, SMS, other. It is as secure as it            needs to be.    -   Scenario 2: As an individual user, the individual user can        harvest a random key from a local TRNG random physical        phenomenon, such as heat source, processor entropy and so on.        -   Can it be cryptographical high quality? Yes        -   Is the individual user's data secret from vendors? Yes        -   Is the individual user's data secret from attackers? Yes        -   Does the individual user have a way to remember the key? No        -   Can the individual user recreate the key? No        -   Does the individual user have a secure way to distribute the            key to others, besides physical? No. Physical delivery via            USB drive is the only option.    -   Scenario 3: As an individual user, the individual user relies on        a service provider harvested random key.        -   Can it be cryptographical high quality? Yes        -   Is the individual user's data secret from vendors? No. By            definition the vendor can access the individual user's data        -   Is the individual user's data secret from attackers? Limited            by vendor security        -   Does the individual user have a way to remember it? Yes, if            it is in a vendor's key vault        -   Can the individual user recreate it? No        -   Does the individual user have a secure way to distribute it            to others, besides physical? Limited. The distribution is            done from vendor's store to individual parties through            HTTP/TLS, which has opportunities for discovery.

Beginning at step 202, the user device 102 receives host data and a userPIN (Personal Information Number). This user PIN is a PIN that iscreated by the user and is personal to the user. The host data can alsobe referred to as a host factor or second factor and is generated by thehost and provided to the user for the purpose of generating a privatekey using the inherent entropy of a known photograph, which will bedescribed in more detail hereinbelow. Further, for each user PIN, thehost can generate multiple different host factors to allow forgeneration of different private keys for the user using the samephotograph and PIN, the operation of which will be describedhereinbelow. In some embodiments, the host data is received from thehost cloud server 106 through the network 108, for example using theHTTPS protocol to provide standard security. HTTPS is not perfectlysecure, however, and it can be assumed that it is possible for the hostdata to be intercepted.

The user PIN is entered by the owner of the user device 102 that isperforming the method. Accordingly, the PIN is not received through anycommunications channel, and is not prone to interception. In order forthe PIN to be compromised, a physical attack must be made on the phone.For example, an attacker must physically observe the user entering thePIN, or physically access the PIN if it is stored on the device. Inpreferred embodiments, the PIN is 6-12 digits long and is comprised ofalphanumeric characters.

In some embodiments, the user device 102 also receives a desired keysize for the output key at step 202 during the key creation operation.For example, the key size can be 256 bits. This key size can also be apredetermined default that is set in an application that implements themethod. The key size is a subset of the entropy source, i.e., thephotograph, such that, for example, if the photograph has 4,000 pixels,each pixel comprised of 3 bytes (e.g., color—red-green-blue or “RGB”),that computes to 4,000×8 bits/byte×3=96000 bits. In some embodiments,the application contains a default key size of 256 bits but a user mayspecify a larger key size, or the cloud host 106 can specify a largerkey size (for example in the host data), to obtain a stronger key.

At step 204, the user device 102 receives an image. The image can bereceived in any suitable fashion. For example, when the user device 102is a mobile phone, the image may be captured using a camera that is partof the mobile phone. Alternatively, the user may choose an existingimage from another source, for example by downloading the image from theinternet. This image or photograph is then kept by the user so that theuser can later recreate the private pey(s) with this image, user PIN andhost data/factor. It is not that multiple users cannot have the sameimage or photograph; rather, it is the combination of the three factorsof image/photograph, user PIN and unique host data/factor that impartssecurity to the generated private key. In addition, as will be describedhereinbelow, the host does not possess the photograph, so the privatekey cannot be created or discovered via information lying solely on thehost servers.

Any given image embodies a certain amount of entropy based on the amountof variation in color between individual pixels of the image. Ingeneral, when dealing with images, it is understood that an imageinherently has associated entropy. This entropy, from one viewpoint, isa way to relate the amount of uncertainty about an event associated withthe given probability distribution, wherein entropy can serve as ameasure of “disorder.” As a level of disorder rises, the entropy risesand events become less predictable. With respect to a photograph orimage, this can be represented by a dataset of digitized pixel valuesand the entropy can be considered to be the randomness of the datasetassociated with the image, which corresponds to a measure of the amountof information within an image. That is to say, a very complex image hasmore information contained therein than a very simple image. Just theimage itself on a document for, by way of example, a color image with aresolution of 1920×1080 with 10,000 colorful dots and an image with onlyfive gray dots would vary differently in the amount of informationwithin the image and, consequently, the amount of randomness or entropy.

It is possible to calculate the entropy H(x) with, by way of oneexample, use of the following equation based on Claude Shannon's workcommonly known as Shannon entropy:

${H(x)} = {- {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{{p_{i}\left( s_{m} \right)}{{\log_{2}\left( {p_{i}\left( s_{m} \right)} \right)}.}}}}$

The p_(i) value is the occurrence probability of a given symbol. Herethe symbols are pixels. For example, consider a single-channel 8-bitimage (256 intensity levels per pixel), one can compute p_(i) asfollows:

$p_{i} = \frac{{Number}{of}{occurrances}{}{of}{the}{intensity}{level}i}{{Number}{of}{intensity}{levels}}$

This is basically the probability that the outcome x happens. M are allthe possible outcomes. The probability density p_(i) is calculated basedon, in one example, the value of i being the potential values of thepixel, wherein each pixel can have 256 values for each color. This isjust one example to determine the randomness of the particular image orphotograph. The reason to consider the entropy for the entire image isto determine if any particular photograph or image has a sufficientlevel of uncertainty or randomness inherent thereto in order to providethe basis for harvesting the private key therefrom, as will be describedin more detail hereinbelow. It should also be appreciated that certainimages have very low entropy, such as a completely white image—whichbasically has no entropy—and a relatively complex image—which has ahigher entropy. Within any particular image, it should also beappreciated that there are certain areas that have higher entropy thanothers. Each of these photographs or images has certain order associatedtherewith as compared to an image of completely random pixels. Thus, thedataset associated with a photograph or image will be an ordereddataset, with the order defined by the ordered information containedwithin the photograph. There are certain biases that are naturallyassociated with the photograph, such as a scene having a sky in theupper portion thereof and the scenery in the lower portion thereof.

At step 206, entropy is distilled from the image using the host data andthe PIN received at step 202. In this process, one or more harvestingprocesses is applied to the ordered dataset in order to extracttherefrom the information that is who comprise the private key, i.e.,256 bits in one example. This process is described in further detailwith respect to FIG. 2B.

Referring now to FIG. 2B, there is illustrated a sub-method 201 fordistilling, or harvesting, entropy from a received image using host dataor factor and a user PIN. Distillation of entropy from the imageinvolves selecting a number of pixels from the image (i.e., samplingpixels from the image), from which bits of information are selected foruse as a key. In this way, high quality cryptographic keys can begenerated without the use of a RNG, which require substantially moreprocessing capability. The process of selecting or sampling pixels isreferred to herein as pixel harvesting. Modern digital images obtainedfrom a smartphone camera often contain 10 megapixels or more. Assuming astandard RGB camera using 24 bit color, each RGB pixel contains 24 bitsof information—8 bits for each of the red (R), blue (B), and green (G)color channels of the pixel. A 10 megapixel image thus contains 24million bits of information. The pixel sample size required to generatea key will be substantially less than the number of pixels in an image,and accordingly a large number of unique keys may be generated from asingle image's entropy using the same user PIN and an associated hostfactor. As will be described in more detail hereinbelow, the multipleharvesting processes can be individually selected by the user PIN, andthe host factor can be different for a particular user and theirassociated user PIN in order to allow different private keys to begenerated from the same photograph and same user PIN. For example, theuser may have multiple applications, each requiring a private key. Sincethe host generates the host factor, a relational database can bemaintained at the host server, wherein the generation of the host factorthereat results in a separate and unique host factor being generated fora particular user, a particular user PIN of that user, and a particularimage or photograph (noting that the host does not have access to theparticular image or photograph). Thus, with the particular image orphotograph, the user PIN and any one of the unique host factorsassociated with that user, a unique and individual private key can begenerated. Further, all that is required to re-create the private key isthe same particular image or photograph, the same user PIN and theassociated unique host factor.

At step 208, the image file is converted into a manipulatable format.This can include, for example, determining a set of “orientation pixels”comprising pixels at the corners of the image and at points between thecorners of the image. These pixels can be stored and used as referencepoints to determine whether the image is in its original orientation inthe future. This is useful when reestablishing keys based on the sameimage or photograph. The orientation pixels can, in some embodiments, beused in a scatter hash, which is discussed further below.

In some embodiments, step 208 also includes eliminating duplicate pixelsin the image (e.g., compressing the image). This process involvesscanning the pixels of the image in sequence and removing duplicatepixels (having the same value) adjacent to each other. The selection ofduplicate pixels for use in generation of the key may reduce the entropyof the selected pixels used to generate the key, and elimination ofduplicate pixels as a preliminary step in this method can result inhigher entropy of data harvested from the image.

The sub-method 201 can also include initial checks at this point todisqualify the image from being used based on various benchmarks. Insome embodiments, after compression, a threshold amount of 1000 pixelsof remaining image data per bit of the key may be required. This may bedone to ensure that there is an adequate sample size of pixels to ensurehigh quality cryptographic keys are generated as an output. In thiscase, if the desired output comprises 256 bit keys, then for eachdesired key, 256,000 pixels of image must remain after step 208. Underthese constraints, a 10 megapixel image could produce up to 39 keys ifvery few pixels were eliminated. In other embodiments, a benchmark of apredetermined number of unique colors may be required per data bit ofthe key. If the image has too few unique colors, the lack of variationcould translate to a lack of entropy. Accordingly, this requirement maybe imposed to ensure that there is an adequate amount of entropy toensure high quality cryptographic keys are generated as an output. Itshould be understood that any method for evaluating a particularphotograph or image for its level of uncertainty or entropy could beutilized to determine that there is a sufficient amount of uncertaintyor entropy in the resulting “ordered dataset” of remaining pixels. Itmay be that certain areas of the image are analyzed and, if determinedto have a very low level of uncertainty or entropy, they are justeliminated from the ordered dataset.

At step 210, the image is manipulated based on the host data or factorand the user PIN. In some embodiments, the first 6 digits of the PINeach correspond to a direct transformation of the image that affects thepixels harvested, or selected, in the harvesting operation and the orderin which they are harvested. This transformation of the image serves tomake it difficult to recreate the user's keys based on possession of theimage. Furthermore, this transformation eliminates local bias to aparticular area of the image, and correlation between the pixels of theimage that may be introduced by predictable order within the image. Forexample, pictures taken outdoors tend to have a large portion of sky anda large portion of ground, and attackers may be able to take advantageof such assumed order, however if the image is transformed before pixelsare harvested, then this sort of order cannot be taken advantage of.

This harvesting operation for obtaining the 256 bits, as defined by thepredetermined number of bits that are set for the private key, isbasically a method to extract or distill these bits from the image. Asdescribed hereinabove, the first step is to ensure that the image orsubset thereof has a requisite level of uncertainty or entropy. As willbe described in more detail hereinbelow, the application that resides onthe user device 102 has a plurality of preset applications or operationsassociated therewith. They can be operations that require the user PINand host data or factor or they can be operated independently. If justthe inherent entropy in the photograph or image is to be utilized forthe harvesting operation, the operation could be first, to define thelength of the private key and then, second, to process the photograph orimage via the associated ordered dataset to extract the number of bitsrequired by the private key from a defined location within the ordereddataset. This, of course, is a very simplistic use of the photograph orimage and its associated ordered dataset and will result in only asingle private key for a given ordered dataset. Therefore, anybodypossessing the image or photograph can potentially discover the processfor extracting the key therefrom.

By employing a plurality of subsequent harvesting processes that aredependent upon the user PIN and the host data or factor, a much higherlevel of security can be imparted to the private key. As such, theplurality of harvesting processes is disposed on the user device 102 asa part of the application and the processes are selected/manipulated viathe user PIN and the host data or factor. Since the user PIN is a fixeduser PIN that is personal and unique to the user that owns this userPIN, with the use of this user PIN in the absence of the host data orfactor, a single private key can be distilled from the photograph. Assuch, all that would be required to re-create the private key is theuser PIN and the original dataset associated with the originalphotograph or image. The use of this second host data or factor that isgenerated by the host and associated with the user PIN imparts anotherlevel of difficulty to any individual discovering the private key, evenif they have the photograph in their possession. In a fairlystraightforward operation, the user PIN can just be utilized to selectamong the plurality of harvesting processes and then the host data orfactor is utilized to manipulate the operation of that process. Thiswill be described in more detail hereinbelow.

In one example of use of harvesting processes, a plurality of harvestingprocesses is provided, which are made to transform the image and itsassociated ordered dataset. Each alphanumeric digit of the user PIN canbe used to parameterize an associated process, such that each processcan function in different ways depending upon the value of an associateddigit of the user PIN.

In some embodiments, one digit of the PIN in an associated harvestingprocess may determine rotation or inversion of the image for thatparticular harvesting process. Based on the alphanumeric characterchosen to be the first digit of the PIN, one of a set of predefinedrotation values may be applied to pixels of the image. For example, alookup table or relational database maintained by the application withinthe user device 102 could be consulted to determine the value that isrelated to the chosen PIN digit. This harvesting process and itsassociated transformation disrupt statistical tendencies of the imagedue to, for example, the presence of sky or ground in the picture.

A second digit of the PIN may start a scramble pattern in an associatedharvesting process. That is, the pixels that are ultimately harvestedfrom the image may be chosen in a scrambled order, rather than in aleft-to-right, top-to-bottom order, or any other monotonic order. Thescrambling algorithm can use pixel data as a randomizing input, and thePIN digit can determine where the input starts. This harvesting processperforms a transformation that disrupts correlation that might existbetween pixels in adjacent areas of the image if they were accessed in amonotonic order. For example, adjacent areas of an image often sharesimilar lighting and colors, and attackers may be able to exploit thistendency for correlation without the scrambling of harvested pixels.

A third digit of the PIN can be used in association with a separateharvesting process to determine an increment between harvested pixels.That is, after the pixels are rotated and scrambled, this digit of thePIN is used to determine that only one pixel out of a given number ofpixels (e.g., out of every 100 pixels) is harvested. In someembodiments, the method associated with this harvesting process beginsfrom a default increment and the PIN digit adjusts that increment by apercentage. This yields a uniform distribution of pixels to sample,which further eliminates bias towards a local area of the image, andserves to disrupt calculations from attackers.

A fourth digit of the PIN can be used in association with a separateharvesting process to determine a column of pixels to begin pixelharvesting at. For example, rather than beginning harvesting at theleft-most or right-most column of the image, the fourth digit of the PINcan be used to parameterize a function that shifts the starting columnaway from the edge of the image. This disrupts assumptions by attackersthat pixel harvesting will begin predictably at the first column andfirst row of the image.

In a similar manner, a fifth digit of the PIN can be used in associationwith a separate harvesting process to determine a row of pixels to beginpixel harvesting at. For example, rather than beginning harvesting atthe top-most or bottom-most row of the image, the value of the fifthdigit of the PIN can be used to parameterize a function that shifts thestarting row away from the edge of the image. This similarly disruptsassumptions by attackers that pixel harvesting will begin predictably atthe first row of the image

A sixth digit of the PIN can be used in association with a separateharvesting process to generate a scatter pattern based on a hash. Forexample, the method can begin from a default assumption of harvestingpixels equidistant from each other in the image. This default can bemodified such that each accessed pixel location is offset by successivebytes in a hash multiplied by the sixth digit of the PIN, and this isthe scatter pattern. The hash can be, for example, a Secure HashAlgorithm—256 bit (SHA256) hash that is calculated from the user PIN,the host factor, and the orientation pixels. Multiplication of each byteof the hash by the sixth digit of the PIN further modifies theharvesting, and the number of possible unique pixel harvesting sequencesis such that the probability of brute force guessing the used harvestingsequence is the same as the probability of brute force guessing theSHA256 hash. It is noted that, in this particular example, the hostfactor is actually utilized as part of the harvesting process. Thus, itcan be appreciated that each unique host factor associated with eachunique user PIN associated with each unique ordered dataset associatedwith the original image or photograph results in a unique private key.Since the photograph and its associated ordered dataset are fixed,changing of the host factor can result in the ability to create multipleprivate keys from a given photograph or image and a user PIN.

It is understood that the purpose of the transformations performed instep 210 is to increase the difficulty of brute force attacks used torecreate a key based on partial information. Even if the attackerobtains the image used to generate the keys, these transformationsgreatly increase the difficulty in determining the key from the image.As the transformations are done using both the user's PIN and theexternally provided host factor, an attacker must also acquire thesepieces in addition to the image to have access to all of the data usedto generate the keys. Of course, an attacker would also have to haveknowledge of the harvesting processes that were utilized.

At step 212, pixels to be harvested are selected, and the order in whichthey are to be harvested is selected, based on the manipulation done instep 210. This can also be referred to as generating a pixel accessplan. First, a nominal pixel access distribution is determined. This caninclude calculating a sample size of pixels. This sample size iscalculated based on a number of bits to be harvested per pixel for usein generating a key. Determining the nominal pixel access distributioncan further include calculating an increment between pixels to beaccessed. This refers to a number of pixels to skip over between pixelsselected to be harvested. For example, it may be desirable to achieve auniform distribution of accessed pixels, and based on the number ofpixels in the image and the determined pixel sample size, an incrementbetween pixels is chosen such that the uniform distribution of accessedpixels is achieved. A uniform distribution of accessed pixels canfurther reduce local bias to any particular area of the image.

As discussed above, the increment between accessed pixels can bemodified based on a digit of the user PIN in an associated harvestingprocess. In some embodiments, the size of the increment between accessedpixels can be varied from 0-15% based on the value of a predeterminedone of the digits of the user PIN. For example, the default incrementamount could be determined to be 500 pixels, and this amount could beincreased by 10% based on the digit of the user PIN to 550 pixels. Thisincreases the difficulty of an attacker determining the distribution ofthe harvested pixels while maintaining the uniformity of the pixeldistribution in order to reduce local bias.

Based on the modified increment, a list of pixels to be accessed can begenerated. For example, as discussed above, a starting row and column ofthe image can be determined based on digits of the user PIN in anassociated harvesting process. The pixel located at the intersection ofthe starting row and column is selected as the first pixel in the accesslist, and the increment is applied to select the next pixel. Forexample, if the modified increment is 550 pixels, then the pixel 550pixels in sequence along the row is selected as the next pixel in theaccess list.

In some embodiments, the pixel access list is additionally modifiedbased on a scatter pattern and associated harvesting process. Asdiscussed above, a hash (such as a SHA-256 hash) can be calculated basedon the user PIN, the host factor, and the orientation pixels. Thisresults in a pixel access list that is uniquely determined for eachimage, user PIN and host factor. For each pixel to be harvested (i.e.,each pixel in the access list), the location of the pixel canadditionally be offset based on the hash. For example, each successivebyte of the hash can be multiplied by a predetermined digit of the userPIN plus 1, and the result can be added to the location of the pixel inthe access list to further modify the location of the accessed pixels.Due to the underlying uniform distribution of the locations of thepixels in the access list, the distribution of the pixels remainsuniform after this further modification, and the modification makes itmore difficult for attackers to determine the harvested pixels. In someembodiments, if the locations of the accessed pixels exceed thelocations available in the image after this modification, the list canwrap back to the beginning of the image (i.e., back to the first row andcolumn of the image).

Although the pixel access list at this point has been modified toincrease the difficulty of attackers discerning the accessed pixels, thelist is still in monotonically increasing order (i.e., each pixel in theaccess list is located at a later position in row, column, or both thanthe previous pixel in the access list). In order to remove thispredictable pattern to avoid potential determination by attackers ofcorrelation between the accessed pixels, the access list can beshuffled. For example, a Fischer-Yates shuffle (or Knuth shuffle) can beused. This shuffle exchanges successive entries in the pixel access listwith another entry chosen based on a random integer between 0 and anindex number of the entry being swapped (e.g., for the n^(th) entry inthe list, the random integer would be chosen between 0 and n).

An example of the pixel access plan is illustrated in FIG. 2C. In thisexample, an image 220 is processed with sample pixels distilledtherefrom in accordance with the process described hereinabove.

At step 214, after the pixel access list has been determined, modified,and scrambled, bits are harvested based on the pixel access list. Again,this pixel access list is created in accordance with the execution ofthe various harvesting processes. A random string of bits can beassembled by simply concatenating the RGB values of each pixel in thepixel access list, and this random string of bits can be used as acryptographic key. This can be referred to as a raw mode of harvestingpixels. Statistically, however, the high order bits of each color bytein an image tend to have more zeroes than ones. This pattern could makekeys generated with the raw mode vulnerable to attack. Different modesof harvesting the pixels from the pixel access list can be used toremove this statistical correlation, and thereby generate keys withreduced vulnerability to attack. Again, the more harvesting processesthat are used and the more complex these harvesting processes are, theless vulnerable the private key is to attack.

One alternative approach to pixel harvesting modes involves combiningthe R, G, and B bytes of each pixel in various fashions to create asingle byte of information from each pixel. An example of such acombination pixel harvesting mode is a low bit merge mode. In this mode,the 3 lowest order bits of two colors of a pixel are concatenated withthe 2 lowest order bits of the third color of the pixel to form a singlebyte of information. Additionally, the color bytes from which 3 bits arechosen can be rotated with each harvested pixel (e.g., 3 bits can bechosen from each of the R and G bytes in one pixel, while 3 bits arechosen from the G and B bytes of the next pixel, and so on). Bytesgenerated in this fashion can then be concatenated together to form afull key. Compared to the raw mode, this reduces the statisticalcorrelation between bits in a resultant key created by concatenatingbytes of information generated from the pixel access list.

An alternative combination pixel harvesting mode is a pixel productmode. In this mode, the R, G, and B bytes of a pixel are multiplied intoa product, which is masked to a single byte of information. This reduceshigh order zero bias; however, some statistical correlation from theoriginal pixel may remain. Bytes generated in this fashion can then beconcatenated together to form a full key. Compared to the raw mode, thisreduces the statistical correlation of a resultant key to the originalpixels. This pixel harvesting mode has similar strength to the low bitmerge mode.

Another alternative combination pixel harvesting mode is a pixelexclusive or (XOR) mode. In this mode, the R, G, and B bytes of eachharvested pixel are bitwise XORd into a single byte of information. Fora single sampled pixel, this mode shows high order zero bias; however;sampling multiple pixels using this mode will cancel this bias. Forexample, when more than 8 pixels are sampled, the statisticalcorrelation to the original pixels is very low and the strength of theresulting key is higher than that created by the low bit merge mode orthe pixel product mode.

As discussed above, the higher order bits of each color byte tend tohave more zeroes than ones. As compared to the raw pixel harvesting modeor the combination pixel harvesting modes, another alternative approachto pixel harvesting is low bit pixel harvesting modes. The lower orderbits contain information that is affected by environmental lightflicker, movement of the image subject or of the camera, artifacts ofquantization of the pixels, power supply levels of the camera,environmental air movement, and such other environmental noise factors.Such information has low correlation to the subject of the image itself,and is accordingly where the entropy of the image is concentrated.

An example low bit pixel harvesting mode selects the lowest order bit ofeach color byte in each pixel. This approach could reflect color bias inthe original image. Use of the above-discussed scattering factor shouldreduce the tendency, however, to over or under sample any particularcolor in the original image.

An alternative low bit pixel harvesting mode is a low bit XOR mode. Inthis mode, the R, G, and B bytes of each pixel in the pixel access listare XORd together to form a single byte of information for each pixel.The lowest order bit of each XORd byte is then selected and concatenatedto generate a key. In some embodiments, multiple pixels can be XORdtogether before the lowest order bit is selected. Due to the scramblingof the pixel access list described above, the content of several pixelsfrom different areas of the image is thus compressed together into asingle bit. Of the discussed pixel access modes, this mode distills thehighest amount of entropy from the source image, thereby having theleast statistical correlation with the original image.

Returning now to FIG. 2A, after the entropy is distilled from the image,keys are provisionally generated by concatenating bits of the harvestedpixels as discussed above, at decision block 216 the provisional keysare compared to a threshold amount of entropy to determine if the keycontains a large enough amount of entropy. For example, the Shannonentropy of the key can be calculated and compared to a predeterminedthreshold Shannon entropy that is considered to be a minimum acceptableentropy for a secure key. If the key does not meet or surpass thethreshold for the predetermined entropy threshold, then the methodreturns to step 204, and a new image is obtained. In some embodiments,this includes prompting a user of the user device 102 to take a newimage with a camera, or choose a new image from another external source.In some embodiments, other tests such as one-zero bias, number andlengths of directional runs, Chi-square, covariance and the likecommonly used to self-test sources of entropy are employed to ensure thekey meets acceptable standards.

If the provisionally generated key does meet the threshold amount ofentropy, then the key is output for use at step 218. This can include,for example, storing the key in a register or database within a memoryof the user device 102. In some embodiments, the keys, once stored, canonly be accessed by a security application that uses the keys to encryptor decrypt data, to sign data, or the like. This is discussed furtherbelow.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a flowchart for theoverall general harvesting process, in one disclosed embodiment. Theflow is initiated at a Start block 302 for a harvesting operation. Thefirst step in this particular exemplary harvesting operation is toaccess a photograph, as noted by a function block 304. This photographor image in a digitized form and it can be taken by a camera that isassociated with the user, it could be provided to a group ofindividuals, such that a predefined group would have a single photographassociated with their respective private key(s) or could be provided bythe host from some library. In any event, this particular photograph,once accessed, then provides the entropy source. This is opposed toutilizing a Random Number Generator (RNG) for the entropy source.

The program then flows to a decision block 306 in order to determine ifthis particular photograph meets some entropy threshold. As describedhereinabove, the photograph has associated therewith an ordered datasetas compared to a truly random image having nothing but random pixelsassociated therewith, since an ordered photograph having associatedtherewith an ordered dataset arguably has some bias associatedtherewith. As such, depending upon the complexity of the image, theentropy of the image or photograph can vary. It is also noted that, inthis example, this entropy threshold is determined after access of thephoto but, could also be determined after all of the harvestingprocesses are performed. It is possible to actually evaluate the finalgenerated key to determine if sufficient entropy exists. If thephotograph does not pass the entropy threshold, the program flows alongan N path to function block 308 in order to select a new photograph andthen proceeds back to the input of function block 304.

Once an acceptable photograph is accessed, the program flows along a Ypath to a function block 310. Function block 310 is where the user PINand the host factor or data is accessed for the harvesting process. Theprogram then flows to a function block 312 to select the key size whichin one example is 256 bits. However, the key size can be selected to beany size. The program then flows to a function block 314 in order toselect a harvesting process from among a plurality of harvestingprocesses that are stored in association with the application residenton the user device 102. The overall harvesting process uses a pluralityof individual harvesting processes in order to make the resulting keyless vulnerable to attack. As noted hereinabove, a simple harvestingprocess could be just initiating a count from the first row and firstcolumn of the photograph by a predetermined count value and thenselecting the next 256 bits. This would be the same for every keygenerated in the system, such that only one key could be generated foreach image or photograph. This, of course, is somewhat undesirable. Thisparticular step would not require any user PIN or any external input todetermine the count value, i.e., it would be fixed by the residentapplication on the user device 102. A further step could be to utilizethe user PIN to determine where the count is initiated. It should beunderstood that a user only has one user PIN and, as such, whateverdigit of the user PIN is used to define the initial composition wouldstill only allow a single key to be generated from a single photograph.

In the disclosed embodiment, multiple harvesting processes are utilizedto harvest the entropy from the photograph. The function block 314selects the harvesting process and then the program proceeds to afunction block 316 to run the selected harvesting process. As notedhereinabove, this harvesting process may require the user PIN alone withno other input, the user PIN in association with the host data orfactor, the user PIN in association with the results of a previousharvesting process or the user PIN in association with both the hostdata or factor and the results of a previous harvesting process.

After completion of the selected harvesting process, the program flowsto a decision block 318 to determine if all of the harvesting processeshave been run. If not, the program selects the next harvesting processin a function block 320 and, after the last harvesting process has beenrun, the program flows to a function block 322 in order to output theprivate key value. This is a 256 bit value, in one example, which hasbeen distilled or harvested from the image, as described hereinabove.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a flowchart for selectingthe harvest process, which is initiated at a block 402. The programflows to a function block 404 wherein a single digit of the user PIN isselected. As noted hereinabove, this is an alphanumeric value. Theprogram then flows to a function block 406 wherein the associatedharvest process is accessed and the program then flows to a decisionblock 408 to determine if there is any host data or factor associatedwith this particular process, i.e., is there a host data or factorrequired to parameterize this particular process. As describedhereinabove, the host generates this particular host data or factor tochange or parameterize the operation performed by the selected harvestprocess. For example it could be that the alphanumeric digit associatedwith the harvest process from the user PIN would select some type ofscramble operation or offset operation with a predetermined value of howmuch offset is provided, this predetermined value defined by thealphanumeric digit from the user PIN. The host data or factor could thenbe utilized to actually modify this value as an additional operation.Thus, by changing the host data or factor, a different private key canbe provided for each value of the host data or factor for the samealphanumeric value of the digit from the user PIN associated with thatharvest process. This will be described in more detail hereinbelow. Ifthe host data or factor is required to parameterize this particularselected harvest process, the program flows along a Y path to a functionblock 410 to parameterize the selected harvest process in accordancewith the particular host data or factor. If not, the program flows alongthe N path from the decision block 408 to bypass the function block 410,the outputs of both flowing to a return block 412.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation of generating a plurality of private keys for differentmembers of the group. It may be desirable to have a group of users thatall possess the same photograph or image from which to distill entropy.In this example, each member of the group not only possesses that samephotograph or image but also there is a group PIN generated provided toeach member of the group. As these individuals are invited to the group,they are provided both the image and the group PIN. Additionally, theway that members are distinguished from each other is by their“position” within the group. When a member enters the group via sometype of invitation, the host will log their position at the time theyenter the group. This makes them unique within the group such that onlytheir position and the group PIN is required. The concept for this groupis that with the shared photograph and group PIN, all that is requiredto generate a unique private key among each individual in the group is aunique host factor for each key generated. By utilizing position in thegroup, the host factor can be varied between each group member.

The process flow is initiated at a block 502 and then proceeds to ablock 504 to select the members of the group. This is by invitation orsome other process. The program then flows to a function block 506wherein a common image or photograph is selected for this particulargroup. The program then flows to a function block 508 to select a commongroup PIN for all members of the group. Since each group member is inpossession of the group image or photograph and the group PIN, theybasically own the private key or keys generated therefrom and canre-create these private keys if necessary. It is important to note thatall of the private keys are unique due to the fact that the host factoris unique. Even for a single member of the group who desires to generatemultiple private keys, each of those private keys is unique even to thatindividual member. The program then flows to a function block 510 toassess the position in the group of that particular member or membersand then to function block 512 to generate the host factor for thatparticular member. After all the host factors are generated, they arestored in a relational database indexed by the member position. Thus,all that is necessary for the host to identify a particular member isthe group PIN and the position of that member in the group. The actualmember could identify themselves to the host by some type of unique IDthat is established at the time the particular member logged into thehost initially. It is in just a lookup operation to look up the member'sposition from the relational database. The program then flows to afunction block 516 to send the respective host factor generated to eachmember and then to a termination block 518.

For a particular user, the possession of multiple private keys can beuseful. In some situations, there may be an IoT device that requiresdifferent levels of access to data. One private key can be utilized toaccess certain data store as considered to be highly sensitive and canonly be decoded by a personal entity with which the user has shared thisparticular private key. In another operation, there may be an operationwherein a data store is to be shared with a less secure group ofindividuals and this particular private key can be shared with a groupof individuals for access to only that particular data store. There canalso be private keys that have different functionality associatedtherewith, such that the user can associate certain functionality with aparticular data store and the recipient must have a shared relationshipwith the user in order to access this particular data.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting amethod for allowing a user with a single user PIN to generate multiplekeys from the same photograph. As described hereinabove, at least theuser PIN and the image dataset are required to generate a user PIN/imagedataset entropy from which random data can be harvested to generate theprivate key. In addition, as described hereinabove, a host factor can beutilized to generate a host data/user PIN/image dataset entropy fromwhich random data can be harvested to generate the private key. Sincethe user PIN and the image dataset are fixed and can be retrieved by theuser at any time in order to re-create private key, One factor that canbe changed is the host factor.

The process is initiated at a block 602 to generate multiple privatekeys, in accordance with and in association with the single and uniqueuser PIN and the selected image dataset that is to be associated withgeneration of private keys by that user utilizing that user PIN. Theprogram then flows to a decision block 604 to determine if multipleprivate keys are to be generated. If not, the program flows along the“N” path to a block 606 for normal private key generation in accordancewith the above disclosed embodiment. If multiple private keys are to begenerated, the program flows along the “Y” path to a function block 608in order to define, in one embodiment, a key classification todiscriminate between private keys for that user and user PIN. In oneexample of why a user would want multiple private keys, consider asituation wherein a user wants to create private keys to protect variousfunctions at different levels in a single system. For example, an IoTcould have various operations wherein data is collected for eitherencrypted stay at rest data that is to be stored in a local data store,or for transmission of encrypted data to various entities for differentpurposes. Additionally, the user may want to have private keys that areclassified for use on different devices such as a gaming system, a smartrefrigerator, etc. In order to facilitate such, the host or server canmaintain a relational database or table in which various host factorscan be generated, one for each different private key to be generated,and each of the host factors associated with same user PIN. Thus, whenthe user generates the private key in accordance with the abovedisclosed embodiment, in association with the same image dataset, theonly difference between private keys for that user and that userPIN/image dataset combination is the host factor.

After defining the key classification for the particular user, theprogram flows to a function block 610 to generate a unique host factorclassification and associated that with that user. The program thenflows to function block 612 in order to store the unique host factor inassociation with the user PIN. In general, is not necessary for the hostto have the actual user PIN stored at the server; rather, all that isnecessary is to have some type of identification to securely identifythe user such that the user can interface with the host/server in asecure manner in order to access the host factor necessary to generatethe private key for any particular classification. The program thenflows to a decision block 614 to determine if all of the private keyshave been generated and, if not, the program flows back to the input ofthe block 608 to process another host factor to enable the user togenerate another private key for that same user PIN/image datasetcombination.

By way of additional detail, the following exemplary technical detailsof the distilling process are set forth:

Details of Exemplary Entropy Distillation from an Image

Processing options

-   -   Inputs        -   Key size in bits, default is 256, multiples of 8        -   Digital image file—for example, Joint Photographic Experts            Group (JPEG, file extension “jpg) or Portable Network            Graphics (PNG, file extension “png”)        -   User pin. At least 6 digits, alphabetic characters ok, no            upper size        -   Host factor        -   Compress (eliminate duplicate pixels)        -   Mode and count (for exclusive OR modes):            -   Low order bit: ‘lowbit’, ‘lowxor’            -   Combo: ‘lowmerge’, ‘pixelxor’, ‘product’            -   Raw: ‘colorcode’, ‘simplepixel’, ‘simplecolor’        -   Outputs            -   Keys            -   Hash and other nonces, . . .            -   Orientation pixels (verify orientation)

Notes:

-   -   Image data is accessed by rows and columns. The data is        requested in nominally RGB format, wherein there are 3        successive bytes of red, green and blue, known as “RGB”.    -   Color code refers to creating a 24-bit integer from RGB bytes        concatenated in that order.    -   rows and columns are flattened to a 1-dimensional array for        linear pixel access.    -   some modes access by color index and pixel index. For those        modes, rows, columns and RGB colors are flattened to a        1-dimensional array for linear access.    -   SHA256 hash is currently SHA2 256-bit hash; SHA3 or subsequent        hash algorithms may be chosen as the art advances.    -   User pin is accepted as a string with minimum length of 6.        -   The least significant 6 are treated digits modify            harvesting.        -   The entire user pin is treated as a byte sequence with            unbounded length for the purposes of a SHA256 hash.    -   1. Load image file into pixels        -   a. Save orientation pixels. Orientation pixels are a small            set of pixels chosen at the corners and certain intermediate            points saved to identify/verify the image is in the original            orientation, useful if a key is reestablished. The            orientation pixels are also used in the scatter hash.        -   b. Eliminate duplicate pixels—optional. Images may contain a            certain number of duplicate pixels. This option scans the            image in sequence and removes subsequent duplicates.        -   c. Sanity check key size versus pixel count. A ratio of 1000            pixels for one key bit of information is enforced to ensure            an adequate sample size to deliver quality data.    -   2. Process pin digits. The pin provides a simple to use and        remember key for the user. More crucial, each of the first 6        digits directs a round of transformations which determines the        pixels harvested and the order. This creates a potentially very        large set of outcomes controlled by the user. This also        eliminates bias and correlation with order present in the        digital image.        -   a. Rotate and/or invert from pin digit. The user digit            selects from a set of predefined values. This transformation            disrupts statistical picture tendencies such as sky above,            ground below.        -   b. Start of scramble pattern from pin digit. The pixels            ultimately selected for harvest will be accessed in a            scrambled order. The scrambling algorithm uses pixel data as            its randomizing input; the digit determines where the input            starts. This transformation disrupts correlation that might            exit between pixels in adjacent areas if they were accessed            in a monotonic order.        -   c. Increment from uniform distro x factor from pin digit. An            increment between pixels is calculated to yield a uniform            distribution of pixels to sample. This is considered optimal            to eliminate bias towards any area on the image. The user            digit modifies that by a percentage to disrupt outside            calculations of the same distribution.        -   d. Horizontal start from pin digit. The user digit            determines the starting column in the image to harvest. This            disrupts an anticipation that harvesting will start on a            particular column.        -   e. Vertical start from pin digit. The user digit determines            the starting row in the image to harvest. This disrupts an            anticipation that harvesting will start on a particular row.        -   f. Scatter pattern from SHA2 hash of pin and factor from pin            digit. Pixels to be accessed nominally lie equidistant from            each other. Each successive pixel access is offset by            successive bytes in a hash multiplied by a factor from a pin            digit. Since the user pin is not limited in length, the            number of unique access sequences is subject to the same            limits as a brute force attack to extract a key is no more            likely than breaking SHA256 hash, which is quite large, even            if the image is obtained by a breech.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated a sequence diagram 700 ofcommunications between a user device 102, an IoT device 104, and a cloudhost server 106, for setting up secure communications channels based onkeys generated according to embodiments of this disclosure. For thepurposes of this disclosure, the user device 102 is a mobile phone thatis connected to the cloud host server 106 via a mobile data connectionusing the HTTPS protocol. The IoT device 104 can be any type of IoTdevice, and it connects to the cloud host server 106 via the internetusing the HTTPS protocol. The mobile phone connects to the IoT device104 using NFC when the mobile phone is within close enough proximity tothe IoT device 104 for NFC to function. It is understood that anysuitable internet data protocol can be used to connect the user device102 to the cloud host server 106, and any suitable proximity-basedcommunication protocol can be used to connect the user device 102 to theIoT device 104.

The sequence diagram 700 includes communications to establish a securecommunications channel between the user device 102, the IoT device 104,and the cloud host server 106. For example, IoT device 104 may typicallyoperate with the cloud host server 106 as an intermediary between theuser device 102 and the IoT device 104. That is, after an initial setupthat links the IoT device 104 to the user device 102, the IoT device 104and user device 102 may communicate through the cloud host server 106 toexchange information, configuration settings, and the like. A goal ofthe present disclosure is to securely provide high quality cryptographickeys from the user device 102 to the IoT device 104 to allow the IoTdevice 104 and the user device 102 to communicate through the cloud hostserver 106 with end-to-end encryption that prevents the cloud hostserver 106 from reading any of the communications. Additionally, a goalof the present disclosure is to encrypt data at rest on the IoT device104 such that the cloud host server 106 and any malicious third partyattackers are unable to access the data at rest on the IoT device 104.The communications of the sequence diagram 700 may be managed at theuser device 102 by a management application for managing the IoT device104.

In some embodiments, in order to facilitate establishing a connectionbetween a user device 102 and an IoT device 104, it is desirable toprovision one or more keys to the IoT device 104 at the time ofmanufacture. The cloud host server 106 may belong to a manufacturer ofthe IoT device 104, and accordingly may generate a set of one timeprogrammed (OTP) keys for the IoT device 104 at step 702. The cloud hostserver 106 may have access to the systemic entropy needed to producehigh quality cryptographic keys for use in this process. Furthermore,the cloud host server 106 generates an electronic serial identification(ESID) that is unique for the IoT device 104.

These keys and the ESID can be programmed into the IoT device 104 atstep 704. The OTP keys can include one or more device to server keys,which can be used to encrypt data, a server to device authentication key(SCAK), which can be used to validate payloads transmitted from thecloud host server 106 to the IoT device 104, and a device to serverauthentication key (DCAK), which can be used to authenticate payloadstransmitted from the IoT device 104 to the cloud host server 106. TheSCAK and DCAK can be used to create and validate security certificatesfor communication of the IoT device 104 and the cloud host server 106without the need for an external certificate authority. This can reducethe battery power needed for the IoT device 104 to verify thesecommunications, as the need for communicating with a certificateauthority through the internet is removed.

These OTP keys can be embedded in a memory of the IoT device 104 suchthat they cannot be read under any circumstance. The keys can only beused by a secure application for encrypting, decrypting, signing, or thelike, the results of which can be read. Even if the physical memorycontaining the keys is accessed by attackers, the keys cannot be read.Instead, the keys can only be applied to encrypt. In this way, the keysare kept entirely confidential once programmed into the memory.

When a user that owns the user device 102 purchases the IoT device 104and chooses to initiate a setup for the IoT device 104, the userconnects with the IoT device 104 using a wireless protocol (such as802.15.xx) or proximity based protocol, such as NFC, BLE, Zigbee or thelike, at step 706. A proximity based protocol is inherently morephysically secure than longer range wireless connections, and thus therisk of information being intercepted by malicious third parties is verylow. The proximity protocol using NFC utilizes inductive couplingbetween two nearby loop antennas effectively forming an air-coretransformer. The interaction between these two loops is described as“near field.” NFC standards governing this communication link covercommunications protocols and data exchange formats, and are based onexisting RFID standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and ISO/IEC 18902. Insome embodiments, a connection can be established using a wiredconnection utilizing the 802.15.xx standards protocols, or a USB memorydevice, which reduces risk of interception to zero.

At step 708, the IoT device 104 transmits its ESID to the user device102 in the process of establishing the user's ownership of the IoTdevice 104. This information can be transmitted in the clear, as theESID of the IoT device 104 is not secret information. At step 710, theuser device 102 may send the ESID of the IoT device 104 to the cloudhost server 106 (for example, using an internet protocol such as HTTP orHTTPS) in order to validate or establish the user's ownership of the IoTdevice 104.

At step 712, this validation is performed by the cloud host server 106.For example, the cloud host server 106 may maintain a database of allIoT devices manufactured by the owner of the cloud host server 106, andthe ESID of the particular IoT device 104 in question may be referencedagainst this database to validate that the particular IoT device 104 isnot already associated with another owner. Association with an ownercomprises registration of an account on behalf of the user with thecloud host server 106. A user account may include information on anynumber of different IoT devices 104 owned by and associated with thesame user, and may allow the user to apply a same set of keys tomultiple IoT devices 104. In some embodiments, the owner of the cloudhost server 106 does not manufacture the IoT device 104 itself, butmanufactures one or more security elements (e.g., a security chip) thatare implemented within the IoT device 104 to facilitate the embodimentsof this disclosure.

At step 714, the cloud host server 106 sends a host factor, as describedabove, to the user device 102 along with a prompt to input the user PIN(e.g., a 6-12 digit alphanumeric PIN of the user's choosing as describedabove) into the management application, and a prompt to select an image.The host factor, user PIN, and image are used as described above forgeneration of keys to be exchanged between the user device 102 and theIoT device 104.

At step 716, the user device 102 selects an image for use in generatingkeys, as described above. In some embodiments, a camera of the userdevice 102 can be used to capture an image for this purpose. In otherembodiments, the user can choose an image from the internet, or receivean image from some other external source.

At step 718, the user device 102 generates keys using the image, thehost factor, and the user PIN, as described above. In some embodiments,a number of keys are generated from this set of inputs. For example, anencryption key for encrypting data at rest, a user-to-device key forencrypting user device 102 to IoT device 104 communications, and auser-to-server key for encrypting user device 102 to cloud host server106 communications may be generated.

At step 720, once the keys are generated, the user device 102 informsthe cloud host server 106 that key generation has been completed. Atstep 722, the cloud host server 106 generates a bonding certificate foruse by the user device 102 to bond with the IoT device 104. The cloudhost server 106 sends the bonding certificate to the user device 102 atstep 724.

At step 726, the user device 102 sends a payload including the bondingcertificate and the keys generated at step 718 to the IoT device 104 viathe proximity communication protocol. In some embodiments, thiscommunication can be encrypted, e.g. using Diffie-Hellman exchangetechniques, but this is likely not necessary as the proximity interfaceis inherently secure. In some embodiments, a user must actuate aphysical button on the IoT device to confirm the user's presence inproximity to the device. This could be required when a longer rangeprotocol such as BLE is used instead of a very short range protocol likeNFC in order to guarantee that only a user with physical access to thedevice is able to perform the bonding process.

At step 728, the IoT device 104 validates the bonding certificate. Forexample, the bonding certificate may be generated using the SCAK, whichis provisioned to IoT device 104 as described at step 704. The IoTdevice 104 can therefore validate any certificate generated by the cloudhost server 106. At step 730, the IoT device 104 stores the keys in itsmemory. In some embodiments, the keys may be stored in the same way asthe OTP keys are, in a register from which they keys cannot be read butcan only be applied.

At step 732, the IoT device 104 generates a bonding done certificate forthe cloud host server 106. The bonding done certificate is encryptedusing the DCAK that was provisioned to IoT device 104 as described atstep 704. At steps 734 and 736, the encrypted certificate is relayedthrough the user device 102 to the cloud host server 106. In this way,the cloud host server 106 can know that the IoT device 104 is bondedwith the user device 102, and can associate the IoT device 104 with auser account for the user device 102, at step 738.

At the end of this process, the IoT device 104 has knowledge of theprivate keys generated by the user device 102 according to theabove-disclosed embodiments. These private keys are cryptographicallystrong (preferably quantum resistant) and known only to the IoT device104 and the user 102. Because the keys are exchanged with the physicallysecure proximity interface, the keys may be used as a symmetric cipher,as there is no opportunity for the keys to be intercepted duringcommunication. All further communication of data between the IoT device104 and the user device 102 is encrypted with one of these keys. Anysensitive data stored on the IoT device 104 is encrypted with one ofthese keys. The cloud host server 106 is therefore unable to read anydata that is relayed through the cloud host 106 to the user device 102,and is unable to access the data at rest on the IoT device 104.

In some embodiments, the certificates described above include expirationdates, and the initial user of the user device 102 no-expiration user.Additional temporary users can be given a certificate with a countdownvalue that indicates a limited number of users to access the IoT device104. For example, with a countdown value of 0, the user must obtain anew certificate from the cloud host server 106 before each access of theIoT device 104, with a countdown value of 1 the user may access oncewithout obtaining a new certificate, and so on. In this way, the initialbonded user of the IoT device 104 can grant others temporary permissionto access the IoT device 104.

Referring now to FIGS. 8A-C, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, there are illustratedsequence diagrams for initiating a user registration sequence in orderto register a normal user and also define a group leader, FIG. 11illustrating a diagrammatic view of the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 8A-C,FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. In this registration process, the user registrationcan happen into manners: the user is invited to join a group by a groupleader, or the user is interested in joining the system through thesystem website. Referring specifically to FIGS. 8A-C, the first step forthe user is to initiate registration by contacting the user device 102,which runs applications 804. At the application, the user device 102then sends identity information for registration begins verification atthe server 106. This identity information is a user's information fordedication and verification purposes. The system then enters a loop 806in order to verify the phone number via an SMS message, where a codethat is generated by the server 106 is sent to the user device 102. Oncethe user inputs the code received at the user device 102 (or via someother reception method) in the phone verification step, the phone numberis then verified. If the SMS message is not verified, the system entersa loop 808 wearing, because the incorrect code was given, the serverreturns a “verification reject” command to the user device 102 in theapplication 804. The application then notifies the user 802 that thesystem has rejected the registration. The user then attempts to providea correct code until verification has been received, at which time theregistration process continues.

Email validation is only necessary if the user was not invited to join agroup in the system. The validation of the email address is done throughan email message, where a code generated by the server 106 is sent tothe user via some method, such as email, and, once the user inputs thecode in the email verification step, the email address is verified. Thisis facilitated in a loop 810 wherein the user inputs the email code tothe application 804, which then forwards this code to the server 106. Ifthe incorrect code has been received, system goes to step 812 in orderto allow the server 106 to provide a “verification reject” command backto the application, which then informs the user that registration hasbeen rejected. Once the registration is accepted, the process continues.

In the next step, the registration form is completed in order to allowthe user, once the user has verified their contact information, to fillout the rest of the information gathered by the system: country, gender,date of birth. The user will be required to provide a password toauthenticate with the system. In this process, communication to theserver is encrypted with the SMS code, thereby allowing both the systemand the user to be able to derive the same key to be able to transmitthe user's personal information in a secure manner. This encryptionmethod is temporary. This is facilitated by creating the temporaryencryption key the SMS code, encrypting the user's registration data andsubmitting the final encrypted registration data to the server 106. Atthe server 106, the encrypted registration data is decrypted and storedwith the temporary identity. Once the information has been processed bythe server 106, an indication is sent back to the user device 102 andthe application 804 indicating the registration is complete and then theuser is notified of the completion and the necessity to continue tologin. The next step, login step, is facilitated at the applicationlevel. At this step, the user will be asked to sign in with their emailaddress and password they just provided to the system and create theirown encryption key. Once the user credentials are verified, theregistration process requires the user to provide a picture for use ingenerating the encryption keys. If, however, the credentials are notverified, the server indicates this with a “credentials rejected” replyto the application 804 which is then relayed to the user 802 in order toagain send the email address and password.

Along with the picture, the user is also prompted to provide a user PINto be associated with the key generation process. As noted hereinabove,this encryption key, once generated, is unique to the user, this beingthe private key of the user, sometimes of her to as a user encryptionkey or the secret key. A hash is then generated from the private key torepresent the user based on this key. This process first requires theprivate encryption key to be generated from the provided picture anduser PIN, as described above. After the hash of the private key iscreated, a separate shared encryption key will be derived forcommunication with server 106, and a hash, generated to represent theapplication for the user, will be generated based on this sharedencryption key. This shared encryption key and application hash are thensent to the server 106 wherein the server 106 registers the sharedencryption key with the application hash. This shared encryption keyallows the user's system application to encrypt all requests to theserver 106 and decrypt all responses from the server 106. The serverregisters this shared encryption key with the application hash, suchthat all on-going to communications will then be encrypted in thismanner. The application then sends the user hash to the server 106 andthe server 106 then registers the user hash with the application hash.At this point, the registration is complete, and a secure lock iscreated, which is indicated to the user 802.

Capturing now to FIG. 9, there is illustrated a single diagram for thegroup creation sequence that defines how groups allow members (users whohave registered with the system) to securely possess a collection ofdevices and provide other users access to those devices via a sharedencryption key for the group. The ability to create a group is onlyavailable if the user is a paid member and has given the system theirpayment information. The user must first log into the application 804and then the application will verify the user credentials with theserver 106, unless not verified, which then requires the user to againinput their login information. If the user is not a paid member, theapplication will transmit a membership page to the nonmember user, whowill then provide input payment information, which is then sent to theserver 106 by the application 804 which, once processed, results in theuser being registered as a member.

The operation of creating a group by a paid member requires firstproviding a group name, a picture to be utilized by the group for theencryption key and PIN for use with the group encryption key. These areall sent to the application by the user. The application data for thenderives the group encryption key from the picture and the pin and storesit in the system application 804. A group hash is then generated fromthe group encryption key. And this group hash (generated from the groupencryption key) is then registered along with a group leader (paiduser/member) hash. This group hash and group leader hash are then sentto the server 106 for registration with the server. Once thisregistration is complete, the group creation is complete. A secure lockis then created for transmission to the user (group leader) 802.

Referring now to FIG. 10, there is illustrated is sequence diagram forthe operation of inviting members to the group. Group leaders can inviteas many users as they wish to their groups. When inviting users togroups, group leaders must provide all required information about theuser. This includes information like the mobile phone number, the emailaddress and the country. A group leader, represented by a block 1002,initiates this operation by logging into the system application 804 andthen the group leader's user credentials are verified. Then the groupleader chooses a group to invite users to (group previously created bythe group leader). This will cause the system to switch to a group view,wherein the group leader will then input the user's full name, emailaddress, country, phone number and a request to send an invite requestto this user. The application 804 will then send the invited user'sinformation along with the group leader's hash to the server 106 wheresuch information will be stored. The server 106 will then generate aninvitation key that will be associated with the group leader's hash.This allows the group leader to be notified when the user is registered,and if there were any discrepancies of the data submitted in the invite.An invited user 1010 will then receive an email with the invitation linkfor them to register as a new user in the group. The user registrationprocess will then begin for this new invited user.

Referring now to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, there is illustrated the processfor bonding with the device, the sequence illustrating that the devicemust be registered with the group leader before being able to use itsecurely. With specific reference to FIG. 12, the first step is toregister a device by connecting it to either NFC or USB in order toestablish a connection to the device and follow through the bondingprocess. The group leader presses a contact button on the device 102 andthen connects the device via USB/NFC. This is operation {circle around(1)} in FIG. 13. The group leader 1002 will then add a new device of thegroup wherein the application will request an ESID from the device 104.The device will respond with its ESID and the application will thenverify the device ESID with the server 106. If the ESID is not valid,the device bonding process will terminate. In the illustration in FIG.13, the device 104 is illustrated as being an IoT camera that hasassociated therewith an encryption engine in the form of a separate chip1302. This separate chip 1302, as will be described here below, is thedevice upon which the private key is stored and is also the device thatencrypts data on the device 104. It is basically the encryption engineof the IoT that forms a part of the device 104. FIG. 13 illustrates theNFC/USB connection as path {circle around (2)} and the request for theESID from the device 104 along path {circle around (3)} with the ESIDtransmitted to the application 804 along path {circle around (4)}. Theapplication 804 will then verify the ESID with the server 106 along path{circle around (5)}, with the validation operation occurring at {circlearound (6)}. If the ESID is not valid, the device bonding process willterminate. If valid, the server 106 will create a device shared key toestablish a trusted relationship between the server and the device. Thisdevice shared encryption key will be registered in the device throughthe system application's connection to the device, but not on the actualapplication itself. This is illustrated as the path {circle around (7)}which path illustrates the shared key being passed to the application804 and then the group key plus the group leader hash plus the sharedkey plus the user's hash, if available, is then relayed to the chip 1302in the device 104. This is a registration process of the sharedencryption key with the device 104. Paths {circle around (8)} and{circle around (9)} illustrate the transmission of the group leaderhash+shared key and the user's hash, respectively. This operationcomprises the registration of the group key into the device (and not inthe application), this being the created group private key from thegroup user PIN/image dataset. It is noted that this diagram relates toregistration of the group encryption key with the device 104. Fortisregistration of a single user, the private (or secret) key of the userwill be registered with the device 104. This means that it will bestored in memory on device 104 for use with encryption/decryption.Thereafter, the user hash for the user will be transferred. Thus, theoverall bonding process is a sequence wherein 1) presses a contactbutton on the device, 2) the user disposes the user device 104 uponwhich the application is running proximate to the device 104 in order toestablish a proximity-based communication link, 3) the application, oncea connection is made, request the ESID from the device, 4) the deviceresponds with ESD to the application, 5) the application verifies deviceESID with the server, 6) the services of verification and, uponverification, creates a shared encryption key for device-to-servercommunication, 7) the shared encryption key is returned from the serverto the application, 8) the application then registers the sharedencryption key with the device, and 9) the private key of the user(group key for a group) is registered with the device 104. As will bedescribed in below, this is a Write Only operation to memory on thedevice 104 that cannot be read from the device 104.

With respect to FIG. 13, the paths are defined as follows: 1) pressbutton on device; 2) connected via USB or NFC to device throughapplication; 3) request ESID from device; 4) receive ESID from device;5) validate ESID with server; 6) create device shared key to define atrusted relationship between the server and the device; 7) send sharedkey from server to device through application; 8) send group key+groupleader hash; and 9) send user(s) hash.

Referring now to FIGS. 14A-B and 15, there are illustrated a sequencediagram for managing user entitlements and a diagrammatic representationthereof, respectively. Managing user entitlements allows the groupleader to add, remove users to access devices in the group, but also toupdate the type of access the users have on those devices. With respectto FIGS. 14A-B, the group leader 1002 decides to add or updateentitlements for each user to each group. The group leader accesses theapplication and creates an updated profile with user entitlement. Thisinvolves opening the group entitlements, selecting the device, selectingthe user, adding or removing an entitlement for that user and thatdevice and then saving it on the application for the affected user. Thisis indicated by paths {circle around (1)} to {circle around (5)}. Theapplication 804 then saves the profile (the group hash, plus a devicehash plus the user hash plus the entitlement) to the server/cloud 106along the path {circle around (6)}. The server/cloud 106 will then sendback acknowledgments to the application 804 along the path {circlearound (7)}. The server/cloud 106 will then push these entitlementprofiles down to the affected user's applications 102 in order to ensurethat the affected user has the latest entitlements saved. This occursalong path {circle around (8)}. An acknowledgment would be sent back tothe server/cloud 106. The server/cloud 106 will then encrypt the profilepayload with the device shared encrypted key and attempt to communicatewith the device 104. If the device 104 is off-line, the server will waitand retry until the device comes back online. Once the server/cloud 106establishes an encrypted connection with the device, the server 106 willthen push to the device 104 the encrypted entitlement profile changesthat the group leader 1002 requested, decrypt the payload and add orremove users from accessing, or update type of access the user has onthe device 104 in an update process. They can also remove a user fromthe device. The entitlement profile is then updated and the server/cloud106 is notified of such. The profile is then encrypted at theserver/cloud 106 with the affected user shared encrypted key and thenthe profile payload is sent to the affected user, with an acknowledgmentfrom the affected user to the service/cloud 106 that the entitlementprofile has been received and updated.

With respect to FIG. 15, the different paths are defined as follows: 1)open group entitlements; 2) select device, 3) select user, 4) add/removeentitlement, 5) save, 6) application saves profile (group hash+devicehash+user hash+entitlement) to server, 7) server acknowledgment toapplication, 8) server sends profile to device and affected userapplications, 8a) acknowledgment sent back to server, 9) device decryptsand executes-add/remove/ignore command, wherein the add command relatesto the user hash not being in the device and is not given anyentitlements, the remove command is where the user hash is not in thedevice and the profile has requested a removal of the user hash and theignore command is where the user hash is in the device and the profilehas updated entitlements, and 10) device sends encrypted acknowledgmentto server.

Referring now to FIGS. 16A-B and 17, there are illustrated the sequencediagram for authenticating a user with the device and a diagrammaticview thereof, respectively. Accessing of the device 104 requires a userto be validated through the server 106. The user will be able to see ontheir application all the allowed access they have for that device, andthe ability to connect to the device with such access. Specifically,with respect to FIGS. 16A-B, the user chooses the device via theirapplication by opening the group and selecting a device which displaysthe available entitlements on the device for that group. They thenchoose a command to send to the device with respect to the availableentitlements and the desired action. These operations are illustrated inFIG. 17 with respect to paths {circle around (1)} to {circle around(3)}. The application then requests access to the device from the server106 along the path {circle around (4)}. The server 106 accesses theentitlement profile to validate the user plus the entitlement and accessassociated with this command. If the server rejects the request due tolack of permissions, the transaction is terminated. However, once thetransaction has been approved/validated by validating the user profile(group hash+device hash+user hash+entitlement) (path {circle around(5)}), the device information is sent back to the application inaddition to sending to the target device the application's request foraccess thereto (path {circle around (6)}). This is required in order toallow the application 804 to then attempt a device connection. If thedevice is off-line, an alert will be sent and the transaction is ended.However, if it is online, the device 104 will encrypt the connectionacknowledgment with the group encryption key (private key when notworking with the group) and respond to the application with a connectionacknowledgment that is encrypted. The application will then decrypt andprocess this connection acknowledgment wherein a peer-to-peer (path{circle around (7)}) connection is established. The chosen command willthen be encrypted for the device at the application 804 and then acommand payload (encrypted) sent to the device 104. The device 104 thenencrypts and processes the command payload and then responds to theapplication with the results of the command.

With respect to FIG. 17, the paths are as follows: 1) open group, 2)select device, 3) select command (only entitled commands are viewable),4) application requests access to device, 5) server validates userprofile (group hash+device hash+user hash+entitlement), 5a) deviceavailable?-GOTO path 6, 5b) denied request, 6) server routes request todevice, and 7) peer-to-peer connection is established.

Referring now to FIGS. 18A-B and 19, there are illustrated a sequencediagram for allowing direct access for validation of the user throughthe device and the diagrammatic view thereof, respectively. When dealingwith a local network, it is required that the user is validated directlyto the device via a direct access operation. The user will be able tosee on their application all of the allowed access they have for thatdevice, and the ability to connect the device with such access. Theapplication determines how to connect the device (via a LAN, direct IP,network discovery, etc.), and initiates a connection to the device 104.The user requests direct access to the device 104 via the application,wherein the various available entitlements are displayed from theentitlement profile on the device 104. The entitlement profile ismaintained on the server 106, but a local copy can be maintained on theuser device 102 also. Depending on the availability of an Internetconnection, the entitlement profile may be accessed from either source,The user, after accessing the entitlement profile from the availablesource, will open a group, select a device and then the user will choosea command to be sent to the device (paths {circle around (1)}-{circlearound (3)} in FIG. 19). It is noted that if there is no Internetconnection for the device 104 to communicate directly to the server 106,then the application will check a local copy of the entitlements for thedevice 104 on the user device 102. If the entitlements exist in a localstored copy, then the application 804 at the user device 102 willattempt the device connection with a target device 104 in order torequest access to the target device 104. The device 104 attempts torequest the user profile (group hash+device hash+user hash+entitlements)from server 106. If in the off-line mode with no Internet, the device104 will look up the local user hash. The device 102 in the off-linemode will then encrypt a connection acknowledgment with the groupencryption key (private key for nongroup operation) and then respondswith the encrypted acknowledgment to the application 804 on the userdevice 102. The application 804 at the user device 102 then decrypts andprocesses the connection acknowledgment and a peer-to-peer connection isestablished. If, however, there is an Internet connection for the userdevice 102 to talk to server 106, the user device 102 will send therequest for the user profile (hash+device hash+user hash+entitlements)to the server 106 to determine if the user has access to that userdevice 102. Since the application 804 on the user device 102 has directcontact with the IoT device 104, it is the device 104 that facilitates aconnection with the server 106 for the validation process.

With specific reference to FIG. 19, paths described are as follows: 1)open group, 2) select device, 3) select command (only entitled commandsare viewable), 4) application requests access to device directly via LANor direct IP or network discovery, 5) device requests user profile(group hash+device hash+user hash+entitlements) from server, 5a)off-line-GOTO 6, 5b) online-GOTO 7, 6) device looks up local user hash,6a) if it is local=accepts user GOTO 9, 6b) if it is not local=noresponse GOTO 10, 7) server validates user profile (group hash+devicehash+user hash+entitlements, 7a) user profile sent to Chip 1302 GOTO 8,7b) denied user hash request GOTO 10, 8) device decrypts user profile,8a) device accepts a request-GOTO 9, 8b) device denies request-GOTO 10,9). Peer to peer connection is established, and 10) DENIED-no responsefrom device.

Referring now to FIG. 20, there is illustrated a block diagram for theuser device 102 that interfaces with the IoT device 104. As disclosedabove, user device 102 is the device that allows the user to create theunique user private key in association with an image dataset and a hostfactor. Basically, the user device 102 can be a computer or cell phonethat has the ability to execute and run applications via some type ofprocessor 2002, store information in a memory 2004 and be able tocommunicate with either an external local-area network 2008, or wirelessservice provider, and a near field device communication block 2010 forcommunicating with IoT device 104. It also has an input/output block2012 in order to interface with a display 2014, a keyboard 2016, orother input device, and possibly a camera 2018 to obtain an image. Asnoted hereinabove, the image or other appropriate dataset could bedownloaded over the network via the LAN 2008.

The IoT device 104 contains a basic functional IoT block 2020 whichprovides all of the IoT device functionality. The basic functional block2020 has some type of processing element 2024 associated therewith, aninput/output block 2026 for interfacing with the external environment tocapture data, output data, etc. The basic functional device 2020 alsohas a communications block 2027 for communicating with an externalwireless network or a local-area network 2028 in order to interface withthe server 106.

In this embodiment, the device 104 has contained therein an encryptionengine, the chip 1302. In this embodiment, a separate chip, chip 1302,is provided to interface with the basic functional block 2020, wherebasic functional block 2020 can be realized as a separate chip, in orderto provide encryption of the data contained therein, this beingencryption of stay at rest data that is to remain in the device orencryption of data that is transmitted to other devices. The encryptionengine, chip 1302, has an encryption/decryption function 2032 associatedtherewith to allow it to use the private key which is imprinted thereonby user via the user device 102 and the near field communication link.There is provided memory 2034 for storing the private key, in additionto secured server keys and the such required to interface with theserver 106. However, the private key that is imprinted upon the chip1302 is used to provide quantum resistant security to the device 104. Asnoted hereinabove, a local connection such as the NFC connection, or aUSB connection, is provided to allow a user via the user device 102 totransfer the private key to the device 104 after creation thereof on theuser device 102. This imprint operation of the private key isfacilitated by a Write Only Bonding Interface on the chip 1302. The chip1302 can only be imprinted through this Bonding Interface and theprivate key stored in memory 2034, which has predetermined memory slotsfor different private keys. Once the private key has been stored, itcannot be read out via the Bonding Interface or the proximity-basedcommunication link. It can only be used in the encryption/decryptionoperation by the encryption engine 2032. If another user were to bondwith the IoT device 104, their private key would be stored likewise inthe bonding process. Thus, the Bonding Interface provides a gateway forthe storage of a private key in a Write Only operation. This is a OneTime Program (OTP) function wherein the private key, once written,cannot be accessed. Typically, the memory 2034 will be a Flash memory toprovide the non-volatile function of the memory 2032 and it may bepossible to provide for erasing of all the private keys stored, but thememory 2032 is protected from external reading of the key slots. Itshould be understood that the entire functionality of the chip 1302could be incorporated in an application running in software or,alternatively, the hardware functionality of the chip 1302 could beintegrated into a single chip such that the basic functional block 2020and the functionality of the chip 1302 are combined into a single chip.

In operation, as described hereinabove, the user is operable utilize avery unique user PIN and known photograph (which corresponds to a fixeddataset with an associated entropy) to create a unique private key. Thisis all the information that the user needs to input to the applicationto generate this private key on the user device 102. As also describedhereinabove, the application that runs on the user device 102 can pulldown a host factor from the server 106 that is utilized for the keygeneration operation. However, the user is only in possession of theiruser PIN and photograph. The derived private key is then imprinted onthe IoT device 104 via a proximity-based communication link in a one wayWrite Only operation. As such, both the application and the IoT devicepossess the private key allowing access to secure data transmissionusing encrypted data that is encrypted/decrypted with the same privatekey in a symmetric manner. Thus, the user, with possession of thisunique and personal private key can interface with the IoT device 104through any communication link via the application running on the userdevice 120, and no involvement of a host is necessary after access isgranted to the IoT device 104. This provides symmetric end-to-endencryption. If, for some reason, the user needs to re-create the key,all that is required is for the user to know their unique user PIN andhave access to the original photograph or image dataset (or any otherdataset) in order to re-create the private key in conjunction with thehost.

Referring now to FIGS. 21A-B, there is illustrated a block diagram ofthe chip 1302. As described above, the chip 1302 is utilized, in oneembodiment, to provide a separate and independent chip that operateswithin the IoT device 104 in conjunction with the base IoT functioningblock/chip 2020. This allows a hardware solution to be realized for anencryption engine that can interface with the base IoT functioningblock/chip 2020 having the general functionality of the IoT device, inorder to secure data transfer between the IoT device 104 and the userdevice 102. The chip 1302 interfaces with the user device 102 through aproximity-based communication link in order to facilitate receipt andstorage of the private key. The private key is then stored, in thisembodiment, in hardware via a bonding interface that allows for WriteOnly access for key transfer (registration). This is to be compared withsoftware storage, which can possibly lead to some level of securityconcerns. As noted hereinabove, the entire functionality of the chip1302 could be implemented in software on the IoT device 104.

Once the interface between the chip 1302 and the user device 102 resultsin the storage of the private key in the chip 1302, chip 1302 thenoperates in conjunction with the general functionality of the basefunctioning IoT block/chip 2020 to encrypt data for transmissiontherefrom and to decrypt received encrypted data in accordance with theprivate key. This, of course, involves communication with another devicethat possesses the private key, i.e., the user device 102.

At the center of the chip 1302 is the encryption/decryption engine 2032.This incorporates various functioning blocks such as a hash block 2108,a key derivation function block 2110, a data out buffer 2114, a data inbuffer 2116 and an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) engine 2112. TheAES engine 2112 encrypts and decrypts data in a hardware solution. TheAES engine 2112 interfaces with the processor 2024 of the base IoTfunctioning block/chip 2020 via a processor interface 2102. Variouscontrol registers, receive counters, control registers and indexregisters are provided in between the AES engine 2112 and the processorinterface 2102, noting that data can be transferred between the base IoTfunctioning block/chip 2020 and the user device 102 over theproximity-based communication link fir the bonding operation.Encryption/decryption engine 2032 interfaces with the memory 2034, anonvolatile memory, for storage of data therein. It has memory slotscontained therein for storing derived keys from the user device 102,such that multiple private keys can be accommodated. A real-time clock2104 is provided in addition to a Hash-based Message Authentication Code(HMAC) block 2106, which HMAC is a specific type of messageauthentication code (MAC) involving a cryptographic hash function in thesecret cryptographic key. A cryptographic hash function, such asSHA-256, may be used in the calculation of an HMAC. Basically, HMAC usestwo passes of hash computation. The secret key is first used to drive tokeys-inner and outer. The first pass of the algorithm produces aninternal hash derived from the message and the inner key. The secondpass produces the final HMAC code derived from the inner hash result inthe outer key. Thus, the algorithm provides better immunity againstlength extension attacks. The chip 1302 also includes a user accesstable block 2122 containing user profile information, as describedhereinabove.

The proximity-based communication is facilitated through a BondingInterface, which could be any type of proximity-based interface such asan NFC, BLE, Zigbee, etc. interface. This Bonding Interface is designedsuch that it can only write derived keys to the memory 2034 with no Readoperation permitted. Internally, data can be read and written to thememory, but the memory cannot be read through the Bonding Interface,i.e., Read operations prohibited. However, the base IoT functioningblock/chip 2020 can communicate with the user device 102 through thisinterface to communicate such things as its ESID for the bondingprocess.

In general, the chip 1302 protects the private keys via a One TimeProgram (OTP) technique. After manufacture, 1) the device 104 to server106 key can be used with a Hash-based Key Derivation (HKDF) function tocreate block encryption keys to encrypt (the HKDF is a simple keyderivation function KDF) based on a hash-based message authenticationcode (HMAC)), 2) the SCAK can be used to validate payloads from theserver 106 and 3) the DCAK can be used to certify payloads to the server106. These keys can never be read, even if the chip is unsolderedmanually toggle.

The chip 1302 maintains a set of storage registers that have theconfiguration of all known registered users. Many of these registers canbe read from the chip by the processor 2024. The per user applicationkeys can only be written through the Bonding Interface with cooperationof the processor 2024. However, these keys also have Write and Useaccess only; they can never be read and no Read operation from thememory of at least the stored derived private keys is permitted throughthe proximity-based communication link. A device selector chooses devicedata and keys based on index.

The chip 1302 also maintains the last sent and the last receivedcounters from each device in the per user registers. The AES-GCM(Galois/Counter Mode) protocol always increments the counters, so areplay attack can be detected by a reused IV counter. The SSID and Wi-Fipasswords are stored in special registers. If the secure boot verifiesthe program, only then will the Wi-Fi data be made available inregisters to be read by the processor 2024. This protects sensitive datafrom being exposed if the chip 1302 is unsoldered.

The HKDF creates block encryption keys using the particular encryptionkey chosen (in unreadable registers) and a “salt” value. The salt isunique every new session (video feed, power cycle, time period, . . . );randomness is not required. Since IoT devices do not have much entropyon startup (random number generation is suspect), a unique number iscreated from several numbers hashed together. The seed (random numberfrom bonding), the epoch time, a free running counter and the last sendcounter are all hashed together to create an always unique number.

The chip 1302 maintains countdown registers for each user. When thisregister reaches zero, encryption is locked. A new server certificationmust be validated before encryption is unlocked.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that these techniques for generating quantum resistantkeys provide increased cryptographic security for communications betweenIoT devices and devices used by owners of the IoT devices to interfacewith the IoT devices. It should be understood that the drawings anddetailed description herein are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive manner, and are not intended to be limiting to theparticular forms and examples disclosed. On the contrary, included areany further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions,alternatives, design choices, and embodiments apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scopehereof, as defined by the following claims. Thus, it is intended thatthe following claims be interpreted to embrace all such furthermodifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives,design choices, and embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for securing communications betweena device and the apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a user interface;a memory configured to store a plurality of known, fixed and unchangingdatasets, each of the datasets having a plurality of data bits and aninherent entropy; a transceiver configured to communicate with a hostsystem via a first communications channel, and to communicate with thedevice via a wireless channel established using a proximity-basedprotocol; and a hardware processor configured to: receive a first inputvia the user interface, the first input indicating a selection of one ofthe datasets by a user, receive a second input via the user interface,the second input comprising a user personal identification number (PIN)selected by the user, access a host factor of a plurality of hostfactors that are generated by the host system for the user-selecteddataset and the user PIN, the host factor being received via thetransceiver from the host system, select a subset of data bits withinthe user-selected dataset using a predetermined harvest process havingdeterministic dependence the user PIN and the host factor, wherein thesubset of data bits define a secret key having a predetermined keylength and the host factor is unique to the secret key, forward theselected subset of data bits to the transceiver for transmission to thedevice via the wireless channel and storage in the device as the secretkey for use in securing communications from the device to the apparatus,store the secret key in the memory, receive, from the device over asecond communication channel, an encrypted communication, determine,using the stored secret key, whether the encrypted communication isencrypted using the secret key, and decrypt, using the stored secretkey, the encrypted communication based on determining that the encryptedcommunication is encrypted using the secret key.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein: the plurality of datasets are images, the user PINincludes an alphanumeric character string, and the host factor includesa hash value.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the predeterminedharvest process selects the subset of data bits from an imagecorresponding to the user-selected dataset by at least one of: at leastone of rotating or inverting the image based on a value of a firstalphanumeric character within the user PIN; scrambling pixels within theimage based on a value of a second alphanumeric character within theuser PIN; setting a horizontal start across rows within the image forsampling of the pixels within the image based on a value of a thirdalphanumeric character within the user PIN; setting a vertical startalong columns within the image for the sampling of the pixels within theimage based on a value of a fourth alphanumeric character within theuser PIN; setting a nominal increment between successive pixels for thesampling of the pixels within the image based on a value of a fifthalphanumeric character within the user PIN; or implementing a scatterpattern for successive pixel selection during the sampling of the pixelswithin the image based on a value of a sixth alphanumeric characterwithin the user PIN and the hash value within the host factor.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3, wherein the scatter pattern is based on successiveportions of the hash value multiplied by a factor for the sixthalphanumeric character.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a portionof the hash value controls a selection order for alphanumeric charactersfrom the user PIN for each of the first alphanumeric character throughthe sixth alphanumeric character.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein aposition of the user within a group controls a selection order foralphanumeric characters from the user PIN for each of the firstalphanumeric character through the sixth alphanumeric character.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the proximity-based protocol is one of anear field communication (NFC) protocol and a Bluetooth® protocol. 8.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secret key can only be recreatedwith knowledge of the user-selected dataset, the user PIN, and thepredetermined harvest process.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is configured to: access a particular plurality of hostfactors received via the transceiver from the host system; and select adifferent subset of data bits within the user-selected dataset for eachof the particular plurality of host factors received via the transceiverusing the predetermined harvest process, such that a different secretkey is defined for each of the particular plurality of host factorsreceived via the transceiver.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: thetransmission of the selected subset of data bits to the device forstorage in the device as the secret key is a write only operation, and aread, through the wireless channel using the proximity-based protocol,of a memory of the device in which the secret key is stored isprohibited.
 11. A method for securely communicating between a userdevice and a target device, comprising the steps of: accessing by a userof the user device a known, fixed and unchanging dataset having aplurality of data bits and an inherent entropy; selecting by the user auser personal identification number (PIN); accessing a host factor of aplurality of host factors that are generated by a host system for thedataset and the user PIN, the host factor is sent to the user device bythe host system; defining a predetermined key length for a private key;harvesting a subset of the data bits of the dataset at the predeterminedkey length from the dataset, the step of harvesting including steps of:accessing a predetermined harvest process having deterministicdependence on the user PIN and the host factor, and applying thepredetermined harvest process to the dataset to distill the dataset downto the predetermined key length to define the private key, wherein theprivate key can only be recreated with knowledge of the dataset and thepredetermined harvesting process and the host factor is unique to theprivate key; storing the private key to the user device; providing amemory on the target device; providing an encryption engine on thetarget device; providing a proximity-based communication link betweenthe user device and the target device; transmitting the private key tothe target device via the proximity-based communication link; andstoring the transmitted private key in the memory on the target device;wherein the encryption engine is operable to encrypt communications fromthe target device with the stored private key and decrypt receivedcommunications with the stored private key.
 12. The method of claim 11,and further comprising the steps of: accessing an image, the imagecorrelating to an external environment; and converting the image to animage dataset, the image dataset corresponding to the dataset.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising acquiring, by the user, the userPIN, the user PIN having a plurality of digits associated therewith,wherein: the predetermined harvest process is parameterized by a valueof at least one of the digits of the user PIN, and an operation of thepredetermined harvest process is different for each value of the atleast one of the digits of the user PIN.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein each digit of the user PIN has multiple values, and wherein eachvalue is an alphanumeric value.
 15. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising receiving, from a host, a unique host factor generated by thehost for the user PIN, wherein: the predetermined harvest process isfurther parameterized by the unique host factor.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein: the host generates a plurality of unique host factors forthe user PIN, such that each unique host factor can be used with thedataset and the user PIN to apply the predetermined harvest process togenerate a different private key.
 17. The method of claim 15, whereinthe predetermined harvest process is stored on the user device.
 18. Themethod of claim 14, wherein: there are a plurality of predeterminedharvest processes, each associated with a different digit of the userPIN, and the step of applying comprises: sequentially selecting digitsin the user PIN; for each selected digit in the user PIN, applying anassociated predetermined harvest process to the dataset, wherein theassociated predetermined harvest process is parameterized by theselected digit such that an operation of the associated predeterminedharvest process is different for each value of the selected digit; andafter all of the predetermined harvest processes are applied to thedataset, the dataset has been distilled to the predetermined key lengthto define the private key.
 19. The method of claim 18, furthercomprising receiving, from a host, a unique host factor generated by thehost for the user PIN, wherein: at least one of the plurality ofpredetermined harvest processes is further parameterized by the uniquehost factor in the step of applying.
 20. The method of claim 11,wherein: the transmitting of the private key and storing in the memoryon the target device is a write only operation, and a read, through theproximity-based communication link, of the memory on the target deviceis prohibited.